


through love his throne is made secure

by HuiLian



Category: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene, RotT Spoilers, but yeah this is that basically, there is a lack of costis in ROTT and this is my attempt to fill that void, what is the term for angst and fluff and longing all at once???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:55:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27821866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HuiLian/pseuds/HuiLian
Summary: He was used to sleeping with someone else in the room. The barracks of the Guard were not private, and then in Roa, Kamet had been there. But none of those had the feeling of being watched, of being stripped down to his very core.He opened his eyes and was not surprised to see Eugenides sitting at the foot of his bed.“My King,” Costis whispered. He was not entirely sure why he’s whispering; the king of course had the right to every room in the palace, and it was common knowledge by now that Attolis could move throughout the palace of Attolia without being detected. But the air was thick with anticipation, and he knew that one misstep could cause everything to crumble down.--A (sort of) missing scene from ROTT.
Relationships: Eugenides & Costis Ormentiedes
Comments: 12
Kudos: 52





	through love his throne is made secure

**Author's Note:**

> some gen & costis fic for you all! in the text it's implied that costis leave right after the conversation in the throne room (because pheris wrote, the next day, relius also left, which implies that costis left that day??) but it doesn't SAY that this couldn't happen, so I'm just, running with it i suppose. also, we need more costis. and more costis & gen. 
> 
> title from Proverbs 20: 28, which, honestly, encapsulated gen so well i don't even know.

He had meant to go right after the queen had given him permission to. He had left Kamet alone long enough, and with the situation being what they are, five minutes could be the difference between life and death. 

But Eugenides had asked him to wait. The king cited several arguments: it was late in the afternoon to be travelling, the horses would be terribly grouchy if forced to go now, and the fact that Costis hasn’t packed. All reasonable arguments, but the thing that made Costis wait wasn’t any of them. It was the hint of _something_ in the king’s eyes when he said it, all too similar to the one he had when Costis had glimpsed his tears as he looked out of the windows to the mountains of Eddis. 

Costis waited. He arranged for the horses, packed his bag-- bringing in as little as he could get away with--, and then, when he had nothing else to do, paced the floor in his room, thinking of all the ways Kamet could have been hurt in the weeks he was gone. 

Eventually, he fell into a slumber that, even if it wasn’t terribly restful, would do enough to keep him in top shape as he rides in the morning. Of course, that was when he woke with the feeling of eyes watching him.

He was used to sleeping with someone else in the room. The barracks of the Guard were not private, and then in Roa, Kamet had been there. But none of those had the feeling of being watched, of being stripped down to his very core. 

He opened his eyes and was not surprised to see Eugenides sitting at the foot of his bed. 

“My King,” Costis whispered. He was not entirely sure why he’s whispering; the king of course had the right to every room in the palace, and it was common knowledge by now that Attolis could move throughout the palace of Attolia without being detected. But the air was thick with anticipation, and he knew that one misstep could cause everything to crumble down. 

Something must have shown on Costis’s face, because Eugenides let out a soft laugh and, with a voice just loud enough to be heard by Costis and not more, “Don’t worry. I’m not going to ask you to stay.” 

A breath he didn’t even know he was holding escaped Costis. Of course he knew that the king wasn’t here to countermand the queen’s orders, that he wouldn’t leave Kamet to die, but it was not the first time that Eugenides had done something he couldn’t comprehend. 

He was glad he didn’t have to choose between obeying his king and saving Kamet. He didn’t know which one he would choose then, and _that_ scares him more than anything. 

The question of _what_ , then, was the king doing here was on the tip of his tongue, but it stayed there. If the air was thick with anticipation then, it was loaded with reverence now, at least for him. The silence went on, with Eugenides looking at him with a sad smile on his face and Costis looking back at his king with every single ounce of awe and devotion he had ever felt towards the man in front of him pouring out of his body. Maybe it was because of the look in his eyes earlier that day, so similar to the one he held for his homeland. Maybe it was because he hadn’t asked Costis to choose, or maybe it was because of the smile currently decorating his face, making him look so very young and so very old at the same time. 

Finally, Eugenides reached out with his hand and placed it on Costis’s cheek. With a glance, Costis could see that the hook was tucked close to the king’s body, where the knife-edge could do no damage at all to him. 

“Costis,” the king murmured, and the sound of his name, something he had heard countless times in his life, but was now spoken with that voice and from that mouth, suddenly made him want to repeat every single oath he had sworn to this man. 

Before he could do anything, though, Eugenides closed the distance between the two of them and brushed a kiss on his forehead. It lasted a second at most, but it felt like an eternity to Costis. “Be blessed in your endeavours,” the king whispered into his ear. 

It was the same words that the queen had told him in the throne room, earlier that day, but the king said it differently. A hint of an Eddisian accent, so carefully concealed in any other situation, coloured the king’s recitation on his people’s words, and somehow, that weighed the sentence even more than it had been in Attolia’s mouth. Weighed the sentence even more than if it was said in a perfect Attolian accent, which Costis knew the king could do easily. 

He didn’t know what to say, what to do, so he froze, still sitting in his bed, the king’s hand still pressing against his cheek. He should get up. He should have gotten up the moment he saw his king, but he couldn’t make himself do it. Finally, he whispered the same thing he did when he saw Eugenides at the foot of his bed, the only thing he could have said. “My King.” 

The king let out a soft snort, and he was still so close with Costis, Costis could feel the air brushing against his cheek. “Go to sleep, Costis,” Eugenides said. “You have a long ride tomorrow.”

And then, the king was gone, as quickly and silently as he had come. Costis was left sitting stunned on his bed. He felt his hand move towards his cheek, the same one that the king had laid his hand on, to make sure that he hadn’t dreamed the entire thing. On a hunch, he brushed his hand backwards, reaching for his earlobe. Even before he touched it, he already knew what he would find there. 

**Author's Note:**

> YES IT IS THE EARING FROM TAT I DON'T KNOW HOW THAT WORKS JUST RUN WITH IT OKAY (that's the theme for this fic. just run with it, okay?) 
> 
> thank you for reading! consider leaving a kudos or comment to sustain this author in her endeavours??? 
> 
> go talk to me on tumblr (huilian.tumblr.com), which is gaining queen's thief content at an alarming rate


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